Blind or Partially Blind Gulf Coast Toad Care?

[Sapphire195]

I fed him a cricket coated with calcium powder and soaked him for one hour, then rinsed the pedialyte off of him.

Should I continue with this pedialyte/water soaking daily? Weekly? I'll try to get some pictures of him soon. My computer's photo storage isn't working, but I can save some from my phone tomorrow I hope.

[Cliygh and Mia 2]

Hi! Sounds like you're doing great so far. For right now try doing it twice a week, so that it doesn't stress him out and that the afflicted eyes may have a chance to heal. If he is truly blind, they you will have to keep him, as it will be impossible for him to survive in the wild without his main detection sense. Also you won't be able to upload photos directly to frog forum, as it was hacked a while ago and we lost the ability to like posts and to upload photos directly to the site. Try using imgur or photobucket to upload the photos and then linking said photos here

[Sapphire195]

Thank you. Here are the pictures of him.

Good eye.


Bad eye.


Hands



Size




Is there any way to tell what gender it is? Also, I have IDed him/her properly as a Gulf Coast Toad, correct? As for his 'good' eye, does anyone know why it won't open all the way?



I named it Budge. I fed it two worms today. One with calcium and one without. He/she is making progress. I put the worm just a bit in its mouth and it swallowed it by forcing it into its mouth with its hands.

[LilyPad]

I am not familiar with this species of toad, but usually the best way to ID is whether or not they call. Your guy is teeny yet though, so that might take some time. It looks like it suffered some sort of injury and neither of the eyes are functioning properly. I am not sure what would have caused it though It is good to see him getting excited about food. I think he should be happy living indoors with someone to feed him

[Sapphire195]

I haven't heard him/her call. Have had a few other toads from the barrel call before when I pick them up, though. Sounds kind of like someone saying 'upupupup' a bunch of times...I honestly don't know how else to describe it. lol

I'm glad that he's excited about the food, too. I hope that the second eye functions enough for him to not have to be force fed at some point. It seems like he responds to light in the good eye.

[elly]

That's a good sign. He may be a little off on depth perception, but if one eye works he should be able to function.

[Sapphire195]

That's good. I do really hope that he'll be well enough off to hunt in the wild with a couple of human given supplements at some point, or hopefully he'll eat without force feeding. I can't imagine that it's all that pleasurable to the little guy to be force fed.
Maybe I can made him a little pen outside or something so I can make sure that he doesn't stray too far away in the yard.
Maybe he can become the new 'porch toad'. The last porch toad was fat and happy because I got her cricket treats a couple times a week, as well as the occasional moth or leaf-hopper. And we have a bunch of hiding places near the porch, as well as a source of water/dampness. I think he'd like it there once it warms up. Might be worth a shot if he'll eat by himself. Our last porch toad was a big female gulf coast toad.


I fed him three small crickets today. I think that he likes the worms better.